Christmas Shopping
by MoustahcesAndPistachios
Summary: Who knew Christmas shopping could mean so much? Some fluff and some Norfin, or NorFem!Fin. NorwayxFem!Finland


A shopping centre. The cause of somes deepest fears and anxieties, and the thought of a paradise for others. But all the same one of the busiest places, mainly at weekends and holidays, just as it so happens to be on this particular day. One of the bigger holidays actually. Dare I say, the biggest holiday all year round. Christmas.

This shopping centre, like many others, came well prepared for Christmas, as it has in previous years. The spacious three-story building would usually be awfully plain, with it's white glossy tiled floors being constantly cleaned to keep them shining, and their white walls and pillars kept plain, to allow the fronts of the shops to stand out in their own way and attract customers. But not anymore. Christmas really did bring the best out of the shopping centre. A big fresh Christmas tree would be placed in the centre, in between the escalators and stairs that spiraled up the centre of the shopping centre, with it's luscious dark green pine needles giving off the well known scent of a pine tree, to really put you into the Christmas mood. The plain pillars and walls became covered in mixtures of brown, red, blue and green tinsel, and banners of Christmas messages would be hung. The glossy white floors would have strips of red carpet placed down the middle section of the shopping centre, and go right from the entrance to the other end, on all floors.

Many paper and glittery plastic snowflakes, as well as baubles of various colours, would be hung from pieces of string from the ceilings on all the floors, all floating at different heights. At the back of the shopping centre, on the ground floor, where it usually was an empty space that some cafes and restaurants usually took great joy in occupying with tables and chairs, was now transformed into a mini winter wonderland. In the wonderland there was fake snow spread over the floor, with a backdrop of snowy hills, and a warm, inviting cottage resting on one of the more distant hills, and the sun trying to peep through the cloudy and snowing sky. There was also a fake snowman and a small deer made from a metal frame and white Christmas lights. This was all overseen by a friendly cameraman, prepared to snap pictures of anyone in the wonderland, for a price of course, and who would promptly print off the pictures and deliver them to his customers.

And just like any shopping centre this time of year, there was plenty of Christmas music blasting through the rarely used speakers placed around the centre. Usually there would be no music at all all year round, so that all customers could be satisfied with the shopping environment, but Christmas time was the only exception, as it was loved by all the Christmas shoppers, and there was no worry over some shoppers not liking a certain genre of the music playing. And of course the music had to be loud, as over the Christmas period, more and more people were taking time off work to do their shopping, and with more people that means more noise, so to cover the noise the music had to be turned up, and was rarely turned down, unless it was a particularly quiet day and less busy, much like this day.

Now it was busy, just not as busy as it usually is, mostly as it wasn't even December yet, but it was close, and the most eager of Christmas shoppers were about. Amongst these shoppers were mostly businessmen and parents, who were getting their shopping out the way, as well as a few older people and a few couples. One couple in particular stood out in the crowds of shoppers. Not because they were being overly affectionate or very loud and trying to attract attention, but quite the opposite.

The woman in this couple was a little Finnish lady. When I say little I don't mean she's petite or quite young, she's simply just quite short. Standing at 5"5 with the help of her brown heeled and laced up ankle boots, which had the tops of her thick wooly navy blue socks, covered with little white snowflakes, folded over the top of the boots, to hide the knot of the shoelace. Tucked into these socks and boots were a pair of navy blue, almost black, fitted jeans. Although the woman was slightly round, she wore a cream knitted jumper, which was baggy on her, with two red reindeers facing each other at the bottom of the jumper, and a trail of fair isle stars above them, going all the way round her chest, but not to the back of the jumper, which remained plain. To finish off her winter outfit, there was a cream beanie hat, with a little red bobble on the end, placed on the top of her blonde plaited hair.

The Finn's gloved hand was intertwined with a Norwegian man's gloved hand, who was to no surprise the other half of this couple. He stood at about 6"3, creating quite an obvious height difference of the couple, and aiding in making them stand out a little bit more than anyone else at the shopping centre. He wore a red and white Fair Isle print jumper, with the white collar of his button up shirt peeking over the edge of the jumpers collar. The jumper ended just below where his belt was, keeping up his navy blue jeans.

The two walked into the shopping centre, hand in hand, at a leisurely pace, both not quite sure which shop to go to first. Before they came to a stop near the Christmas tree in the middle of the shopping centre, the Norwegian would take occasional glances down at his girlfriend, smiling as he did, and then he'd flick his head to get the hair that had fallen across his face back into place as he looked back up at where he was going. This was another thing, that if you picked up on it, would make them stand out. The way he'd look at her, and the way she'd notice his glances in the corner of her eye, but keep looking straight ahead and smiling, knowing that this wasn't his way of trying to get her attention, and because of this she never would question the glances and although aware they were happening, she was rather content with it all.

Also the way that the two would be quite comfortable in each other's silence, and not feel the need to fill it unnecessarily. Or the way that when they did go into a shop and the little Finn would find something she knew was perfect for someone they were shopping for, she didn't need to say who, she could just look at the perfect present then beam up at her boyfriend, with her excited violet eyes and smile to match, and he'd know exactly who she was thinking of buying it for, and reply with a smile of his own and a nod, albeit his features and blue eyes would appear softer and less excited than the Finn's, simply because these things didn't tend to excite him as much as her, but he'd still smile as her excitement was one of the many things he admired about her.

One last thing that made them stand out, when they sat down in one of the quieter cafes for a coffee and something quick to eat, was the way that they would show affection to each other in public. They didn't do it openly like most of the couples in the area. Instead it was the little things, like when the Finn removed her hat and her fringe fell in front of her eyes, he'd lean over the table slightly to move the hair, and knowing that his hand would linger for just a second longer than you would when moving hair out from your face, she'd smile and quickly place a little kiss in the palm of his, now ungloved, hand.


End file.
